Wrights's Native Son and Douglass Jacobs Autobiography - Essay Example

Order 430841 Topic: The psyche of a former slave. Comparing Richard wrights "native son" with Frederick Douglass/Harriet Jacobs autobiography Did Bigger Thomas merely responded to the social and economic conditions in which he and his black community lived and was compelled to shape his life accordingly?The story of this black youth highlights his desperate struggle to challenge the hopeless conditions of his life in particular and racism at its worst in USA. Apart from the usual tortures-physical as well as mental—the black community had to face, destiny was extra-cruel to Bigger. He was involved in two murders, one of them unintentional. He took wrong decisions, due to circumstances beyond his control, and finally his life was ruined. A murder was a murderer in the eyes of the law, and scales of juristic tilted against him. He also had to face the ire of the white community and criticism from a hostile Press. He hated white community to the core, but finally a white individual, who should have been his worst enemy(Bigger had killed his girl-friend) arranged for his legal defense to save him from the gallows, but the exercise proved futile. The first part of his name, in relation to grammar, is an adjective, must have mocked at him in real life always. Bigger Thomas could never become bigger in life. He was cursed with negative challenges of life and his psyche remained constantly under stress. He was a poor, uneducated, twenty-year-old black youth in Chicago of the 1930s, when racial prejudice was at the peak. He visualized his future with a totally cynical perspective and was convinced that the future promised nothing for him and it would remain dark like the color of his skin, for all time to come. His father deserted the family to marry for the second time, and his poor, helpless mother was direction and destination-less and that impacted his mind deeply. He wanted to be big by employing dubious means. He ganged up with his friends to plan the robbery of a white mans store. With anger, fear and frustration being part of his daily existence, he was forced to act tough. Analyzing the psyche of Bigger Thomas Richard writes,“He hated his family because he knew that they were suffering and that he was powerless to help them. He knew that the moment he allowed himself to feel to its fullness how they lived, the same and misery of their lives, he would be swept out of himself with fear and despair.” (13) Criminal activities became part of his life. His greatest challenge was the color white. That played truants at the back of his mind always. He hated the white race with all the intensity of his feelings, and at the same time, he was fearful of the economic and social power commanded by them. He wished to retaliate, but dared not! To him, whites were the permanent enemies and he was always at psychological war with them. But strangely, so far his gang had attacked all black-owned business establishments, as he had developed the mental block to challenge the whites. In one such state of confusion, he attacked violently the member of his own gang to sabotage the robbery. That indicated the deranged state of his mind, and he was not able to think properly. His employment with Daltons as a chauffeur solved his financial problems to an extent, but created a series of other problems. From a close range, he watched the double-dealings of Dalton, a superficial philanthropist, but in real terms, a ruthless exploiter of the black race. Mary, Daltons daughter, created willful psychological problems for Bigger. She wore a mask for exhibiting racial equality. She ordered Bigger to take her and his boyfriend to a black-dominated South side. After a deep drinking session by all the three, what was the situation there? Richard wrote about the interaction between Bigger and the two whites thus: “Was she laughing at him? Were they making fun of him? What was it that they wanted? Why didn’t they leave him alone. He was not bothering them. Yes, anything could happen with people like these….He was very conscious of his black skin and there was in him a prodding conviction that Jan and men like him had made it so that he would be conscious of that black skin.” (67) Bigger suffered much on account this racial taunt. After the drinking party at the restaurant, Bigger drove around the city as Mary and Jan remained glued to each other in the back seat. What was going on in the mind of Bigger? He was thinking about the disposition of Mary and Jan, and felt that they must be making fun of his disadvantageous position by passing remarks against the black race. Richard describes the poignant situation thus: “But they made him feel his black skin by just standing there looking at him, one holding his hand and the other smiling. He felt he had no physical existence at all right then; he was something to be hated, the badge of shame which he knew was attached to a black skin. It was a shadowy region, a No Man’s Land, the ground that separated the white world from the black that he stood upon.” (67-68) Clouds of inferiority complex engulfed the personality of Bigger and he felt humiliated. He killed Mary accidentally and in that process Bigger created history that was bound to add fuel to the fire of black and white race relations, if his crime was found out. Richard describes the eventful situation thus: “She was dead and he had killed her. He was a murderer, a Negro murderer, a black murderer. He had killed a white woman….In the darkness his fear made live in him an element which he reckoned with as them.” (86) Marys murder empowered Bigger in a strange way. It was a psychological victory for a black versus the whites—so he thought! Biggers girlfriend, Bessie had different ideas, and Bigger was emboldened to take advantage of the situation. He was fascinated by Bessies idea to seek ransom from Dalton. But when Marys bones were found in the furnace, it was all over for Bigger. The crux of the story is the cementing of the white-black relationship. The unexpected turn of events must have affected the psyche of Bigger deeply that enabled him to see the black-white relationships in the new perspective. His potential worst enemy, Jan played the role of the good Samaritan and arranged for the legal counsel as Bigger would face death sentience for his crimes. The representatives of white and black race met as human beings for the first time, and realized their follies of mutual distrust. The latent hatred of Bigger against the white community was diluted to a great extent. After-all, what did Bigger achieve in life? Richard describes it poignantly:“But what was he after? What did he want? What did he love and what did he hate? He did not know. There was something he knew and something he felt; something the world gave him and something he himself had; something spread out in front of him and something spread out in back; and never in all his life, with this black skin of his, had the two worlds, thought and feeling, will and mind, aspiration and satisfaction, been together; never had he felt a sense of wholeness.” (225) Notwithstanding the emotional defense by Max that Bigger was the product of environment, and highlighting the trials and tribulations that he underwent in a racist society, Bigger was sentenced to death, as law is dispensed by evidence. Bigger was not a born criminal; the American society made him one! “Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl written by Herself” by Harriet A Jacobs gives the telling account of the how USA created and nurtured the slavery as a institution of oppression against the Negroes. The important and perhaps the sole goal of both the authors is the same—an end to slavery, about which they write in emphatic terms. The impact on her psyche was deep and it was a testing emotional experience for her to capture it in her narrations. Recalling her childhood days Jacobs writes, “ Those were happy days-- too happy to last. The slave child had no thought for the morrow; but there came that blight, which too surely waits on every human being born to be a chattel.”(4) Each day in their life brought forth fresh humiliating experiences. The black race as a whole men, women and children, lived in a country that legally denied their right to live as human beings. Observing how her family as a whole suffered, Jacob records, “ Notwithstanding my grandmothers long and faithful service to her owners, not one of her children escaped the auction block. These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend.” (5) Both the authors give accurate details of their experiences as bonded slaves, the cruel dealings of their whimsical masters, the physical and sexual tortures they inflicted on the hapless slave women they owned, and the strength and will power of some of the slaves to free themselves from the bondage. The Christian duplicity is depicted by both the authors. The slave owners had cross dangling on their necks, but not Christ in their hearts. Douglass writes, "But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such. The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon." (pp. 77-78)The slave owners were disbelievingly cruel, at times. When her father died, Jacobs owner wished to host a party! It was the day when her father died. Jacob describes her poignant mental condition thus: “I spent the day gathering flowers and weaving them into festoons, while the dead body of my father was lying within a mile of me. What cared my owners for that? He was merely a piece of property. Moreover, they thought he had spoiled his children by teaching them to feel that they were human beings. This was blasphemous doctrine for a slave to teach; presumptuous in him, and dangerous to the masters.”(6) Political circumstances prevailing 1861,when Jacobs the book was published and Douglass first autobiography in 1845, were significant in the history of America.The first was at the the time of Civil War and the later at the time of Abolitionist Movement was beginning to take shape as a political force. The writings of Douglass has a missionary zeal. He employed rhetorical devices common to sermons and orations and used persuasive strategies will telling effect. He writes, "Will not a righteous God visit for these things?"(93) and goes on to add, "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!"(p.105) He often quoted Biblical texts, relied on moral principles for the cause of black race. He showed how slavery was the greatest evil that had engulfed the American society. The slave’s will to transform himself from human chattel into a free American citizen was ably depicted through his own life-experiences. He observes, "My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me." (113) From the point of view of gender considerations Jacob focused on sexual exploitation of the salves by the slave owners. Personally her masters personal never-ending forced sexual attentions she had to endure formed important part of her narrations. Jacob has admirably tackled the issue as a woman slave and as a woman author. Emphasizing the sexual issue she writes, “ The secrets of slavery are concealed like those of the Inquisition. My master was, to my knowledge, the father of eleven slaves. But did the mothers dare to tell who was the father of their children? Did the other slaves dare to allude to it, except in whispers among themselves? No, indeed! They knew too well the terrible consequences.”(29) Both the authors made sterling, soul-stirring appeals, that also highlighted the ideal America that they would like to see: Jacob writes, “ I forgot that in the land of my birth the shadows are too dense for light to penetrate. A land Where laughter is not mirth; nor thought the mind; Nor words a language; nor een men mankind. Where cries reply to curse, shrieks to blows, And each is tortured in his separate hell.”(30) Douglass is equally mind-blowing when he concludes, "Sincerely and earnestly hoping that this little book may do something toward throwing light on the American slave system, and hastening the glad day of deliverance to the millions of my brethren in bonds-faithfully relying upon the power of truth, love, and justice, for success in my humble efforts-and solemnly pledging my self anew to the sacred cause,-I subscribe myself, FREDERICK DOUGLASS." (Appendix,159) To conclude with one sentence the contents of all the three books—the cause called upon them, one to suffer, another to suffer more, and the one to die! ************* . Works Cited: Douglas,Frederick(Author), Baker,Houston A(Author). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas, an American slave. Google Books, 1982. books.google.co.in/books?isbn=014039012X... Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl written by Herself. Kissinger Publishing, 2004 Wright, Richard. Native Son. New York: Harper & Row, 1940. Read More